Sky graphical problem - Help please.

[zfkwiatek]

For about one month I can’t deal with strange graphical problem in game (currently 4.11.1 but early happens in 4.10). As I manage to figure it out it has something to do with latest nvidia drivers. My graphical card is nVidia Quadro Fx 1800 and after installing driver version 306.79 (and latest) it always ruins my sky when hardware shader = 1 (Perfect Mode). For somehow when I play in excellent graphical settings it disappear after 5 second. There is no problem when I have install my older drivers ( 296.88 ). Maybe someone have similar problem or know what could be the reason of that strange bright transparent strips over the sky. It is very annoying and when I’m looking allover its changing positions. It doesn’t appear over the aprox. 5000 meters high. I always try to keep my system up to date so don’t know what can cause this problem (Win 7 Prof. x64). Hope that image will show what I mean and maybe my conf.ini sets have something to deal with it. Would by thankful if someone could help me.
Regards

link: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/62/sky1z.jpg/

HardwareShaders=0

Shadows=2
Specular=2
SpecularLight=2
DiffuseLight=2
DynamicalLights=1
MeshDetail=2
VisibilityDistance=3

Sky=2
Forest=2
LandShading=3
LandDetails=2

LandGeom=2
TexLarge=1
TexLandQual=3
TexLandLarge=1

VideoSetupId=4
ForceShaders1x=0
PolygonOffsetFactor=-0.15
PolygonOffsetUnits=-3.0

[Render_OpenGL]
TexQual=3
TexMipFilter=2
TexCompress=0
TexFlags.UseDither=1
TexFlags.UseAlpha=0
TexFlags.UseIndex=0
TexFlags.PolygonStipple=1
TexFlags.UseClampedSprites=0
TexFlags.DrawLandByTriangles=1
TexFlags.UseVertexArrays=1
TexFlags.DisableAPIExtensions=0
TexFlags.ARBMultitextureExt=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineExt=1
TexFlags.SecondaryColorExt=1
TexFlags.VertexArrayExt=1
TexFlags.ClipHintExt=0
TexFlags.UsePaletteExt=0
TexFlags.TexAnisotropicExt=1
TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=0

TexFlags.TexEnvCombine4NV=0
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineDot3=0
TexFlags.DepthClampNV=0
TexFlags.SeparateSpecular=0
TexFlags.TextureShaderNV=0

HardwareShaders=1

Shadows=2
Specular=2
SpecularLight=2
DiffuseLight=2
DynamicalLights=1
MeshDetail=2
VisibilityDistance=3

Sky=2
Forest=2
LandShading=3
LandDetails=2

LandGeom=2
TexLarge=1
TexLandQual=3
TexLandLarge=1

VideoSetupId=3
Water=2
Effects=2
ForceShaders1x=0

PolygonOffsetFactor=-0.15
PolygonOffsetUnits=-3.0

[vpmedia]

Use this, max settings:

[Render_OpenGL]
TexQual=3
TexMipFilter=3
TexCompress=0
TexFlags.UseDither=1
TexFlags.UseAlpha=0
TexFlags.UseIndex=0
TexFlags.PolygonStipple=1
TexFlags.UseClampedSprites=0
TexFlags.DrawLandByTriangles=1
TexFlags.UseVertexArrays=1
TexFlags.DisableAPIExtensions=0
TexFlags.ARBMultitextureExt=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineExt=1
TexFlags.SecondaryColorExt=1
TexFlags.VertexArrayExt=1
TexFlags.ClipHintExt=0
TexFlags.UsePaletteExt=1
TexFlags.TexAnisotropicExt=1
TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=1

TexFlags.TexEnvCombine4NV=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineDot3=1
TexFlags.DepthClampNV=1
TexFlags.SeparateSpecular=1
TexFlags.TextureShaderNV=1

HardwareShaders=1

Shadows=2
Specular=3
SpecularLight=2
DiffuseLight=2
DynamicalLights=1
MeshDetail=2
VisibilityDistance=3

Sky=2
Forest=3
LandShading=3
LandDetails=2

LandGeom=3
TexLarge=1
TexLandQual=3
TexLandLarge=1

VideoSetupId=3
Water=4
Effects=2

PolygonOffsetFactor=-0.0625
PolygonOffsetUnits=-1.0
ForceShaders1x=0

[jameson]

VideoSetupId=3 (change to =17, which is custom setting)
Water=2 (with nvidia can go to 4)
Effects=2 (set this to 1 or 0, Oleg said 2 was experimental and it can do odd things!)
ForceShaders1x=0 (ok)

[zfkwiatek]

Thank You for your replays, I try it all but the problem still appears. Moreover when I have changed VideoSetupId to 17 something strange went with ground and water.
Think the problem might have something to do with my graphic card and drivers , since it’s not “gaming” graphic card(and only way to deal with it is to install my older drivers). Must used to “not perfect” settings, maybe when I change my card my problem will disappear.

[jameson]

Sorry it did not work, I did a bit of reading about your card and it seems that it is designed for 3D applications like Autocad and 3DS Max. The drivers are also optimised for these as well, so you seem stuck. I have always used ATI so not really much of an expert when it comes to Nvidia, but if you have time you can try to play with this section of your config.

[Render_OpenGL]
TexQual=3
TexMipFilter=3
TexCompress=0
TexFlags.UseDither=1
TexFlags.UseAlpha=0
TexFlags.UseIndex=0
TexFlags.PolygonStipple=1
TexFlags.UseClampedSprites=0
TexFlags.DrawLandByTriangles=1
TexFlags.UseVertexArrays=1
TexFlags.DisableAPIExtensions=0
TexFlags.ARBMultitextureExt=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineExt=1
TexFlags.SecondaryColorExt=1
TexFlags.VertexArrayExt=1
TexFlags.ClipHintExt=0
TexFlags.UsePaletteExt=1
TexFlags.TexAnisotropicExt=1
TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=1

My experience with ATI cards is that they can all be set to 0 except these:

TexFlags.ARBMultitextureExt=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineExt=1
TexFlags.SecondaryColorExt=1

If any of these 3 are set to 0 you get black sky. The result of setting most to 0 may not look nice but it should work. Then you have to switch them on one or two at a time and run the game to see what works or not as the case may be. (Some settings are paired like Vertex arrays, hence 2 at a time).

In this section below try turning off the NV bits (set to 0) or all of them and again turning on one at a time and or in different combinations.

TexFlags.TexEnvCombine4NV=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineDot3=1
TexFlags.DepthClampNV=1
TexFlags.SeparateSpecular=1
TexFlags.TextureShaderNV=1

This is a thankless task and takes hours and possibly days but you may find the setting that causes the problem. As you say it probably is a driver mismatch and if the older drivers worked you may have to go with them. Good luck, hope this helps.